Brackish groundwater is no easy water solution for Arizona
Deep below Arizona sit large volumes of water that are less salty than the ocean, but not easily used.
If it were all pumped to the surface and purified, this brackish groundwater would supply Arizona’s water needs for a century or more. Problem is, it can’t all be pumped.
Tip sheet: monitoring the West’s snowpack
What’s the current state of the snowpack? How have conditions changed over the season?
Climate change and the snowpack: an annotated bibliography
How is climate change affecting the West’s snowpack? What are the projections for the future?
Numerous scientific reports and studies in recent years have tried to answer these questions and...
Denver Water is halfway through replacing lead pipes. Why didn’t this happen sooner?
On an early morning, a quiet Denver neighborhood was temporarily transformed into a construction zone. A boring machine on the road outside someone’s home pointed a long, thin drill...
Holding out hope on the drying Rio Grande
Reporting supported with a grant from The Water Desk at the University of Colorado Boulder's Center for Environmental Journalism. Aerial photography support provided by LightHawk.
FAR WEST TEXAS—The year was...
Post-fire study finds snowpack melts earlier
Loss of forest canopy and deposition of ash alter forest hydrology
Can New Mexico’s Ancient Water System Survive Climate Change?
Traditional irrigation canals, or acequias, could help balance the water supply during droughts — if they are protected.
How much runoff comes from the West’s snowpack?
Snowmelt dominates many Western rivers, but climate change will reduce that contribution as raindrops replace snowflakes.
Scientists seeking answers about Mars look to the Colorado River’s canyons
Ancient rainstorms may have sculpted the red planet, similar to the monsoon rains that helped shape the Southwest’s landscape.
In “Water Bodies,” Western writers tap into intimate connections to their local waterways
In the arid West, water verbs are often bureaucratic. Rivers, streams and lakes are allocated, decreed, diverted, divided and used. Droplets are distributed to serve human needs. Scarcity drives...